Elephant in the Room-- Keeping the Discussion Going

May 23, 2009 - 3:22pm — Mandy Wallace (MIS, NAT)

The VBMA has been involved for the past two years with the Elephant in the Room Discussions on the national level. For those unfamiliar with these discussions, they are a series of meetings where veterinary practitioners, industry representatives, students, and business consultants come together and discussed the mounting problem of veterinary student debt. These interactive, collaborative events help educate attendees on the nature of the problem as well as empower individuals to help solve the problem.

The purpose of this forum will be to keep the discussions going year round and to allow those who have not had the opportunity to participate in one of these discussions to join in and provide their ideas.

To get the conversation going, one of the main questions asked at the 2009 discussions at NAVC was "What can veterinary school students do to minimize or mitigate student loan debt?". What ideas do you have on this topic?

National Discussion Board

October 21, 2009 - 1:28am — tashakat (OrSU)

Elephant in the Room

I was wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to do an Elephant in the Room discussion in a fairly small community. Our class size is only 56 students and the people in the veterinary industry in this area work long and hard. The problems that I have had with organizing events are 1)scheduling a date that works for everyone. And 2)Getting the people to show up after they RSVP. Any suggestions?

Natasha Dye
Oregon State University
VBMA-president

June 11, 2009 - 7:16pm — sassy10299 (UFL)

Local Elephant's

I was at the National conference and enjoyed participating in the discussions. I had heard that a couple of our VBMA chapters had held local Elephant in the Room's and I was wondering if that info on what they did and how they did the discussions was posted? Also Dr. Wilson had said that the results from last year and this year's discussion would be posted on the NAVC site and I haven't seen anything. Does anyone know? I ask because another officer and I are planning to do a local one at our state conference next year.

Thanks

Shannon

June 11, 2009 - 8:45pm — NathanaelOster (NAT, PEN)

Elephant

Hi Shannon. We ran an "Elephant in the Room" in March at the annual Penn conference. If you have any specific questions, you can ask me, or I can put you in touch with Caroline Cantner, who moderated our event.

Best,
Nathanael Oster